What Taylor Swift teaches about teamwork
When I sat down to watch the “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” documentary with my daughter (mostly as an excuse for a little quality time since we’d seen the concert together in Minneapolis), I didn’t expect to walk away thinking about leadership and teams.
Early in the documentary, Taylor introduced one of her backup singers and said, “This is Jeslyn. We sing together.”
It was such a small moment, but it stuck with me.
“We sing together.”
Giving credit to others, sharing the spotlight, and elevating each person's contributions are at the heart of what makes a team work - and Taylor modeled that so beautifully in that simple statement.
The Power of Collaboration
What struck me most when watching the documentary wasn’t the scale of the production or the impact Taylor Swift had on audiences across the world (though that left me with goosebumps, too).
It was how often she talked about her team.
Not just the talent or the choreography. But the trust. The interdependence. The way hundreds of people play a distinct role in making something extraordinary happen night after night.
It’s easy to look at someone at that level and assume it’s individual brilliance.
Success isn’t one person doing everything. It’s everyone contributing something.
And it made me think about EsquireWell.
As our work has grown, one thing has become clearer and clearer to me: I can’t - and shouldn’t - do this alone.
EsquireWell was never meant to be a solo endeavor.
It’s built on the belief that meaningful, lasting change in the legal profession requires multiple perspectives, complementary strengths, and a shared commitment to doing the work well.
The Strength of Different Perspectives
Each person on our team brings something distinct:
- Different professional experiences
- Different lenses on leadership and well-being
- Different strengths in coaching, facilitation, strategy, and connection
- Different stories that shape how we support our clients
When we work together, the result is deeper than any one of us could create individually.
And that’s the part I keep coming back to.
In professions like law, there’s often an unspoken narrative that success is individual: that competence means handling it all yourself, and that leadership means carrying the weight alone.
But the opposite is often true:
- Strong leaders build strong teams.
- Healthy cultures are co-created.
- Sustainable performance is supported, not solo.
Support Is Strength - Not Weakness
When we have a team we can depend on, we can expand our impact without diluting it.
We bring creativity to complex problems - steadiness to high-pressure moments.
More wisdom for difficult decisions.
More humanity for demanding work.
At EsquireWell, that’s what our team of coaches and experts represents to me.
Not just support.
But strength, experience, and dedication - which make the final services we offer our clients all the more impactful and extraordinary.
Where Could You Share the Stage?
So here are a couple of questions for you this week:
Where might you be trying to do something alone that would be stronger with support?
And who’s already in your orbit - ready to bring their part to the stage?
Because no matter how capable you are, you were never meant to carry the whole production by yourself.
And when each person plays their part, the outcome is bigger - and better - than any one of us could create alone.
Recommended Resources
[Article] Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour: Lessons in Connection, Empathy, and Influence | Talent Smart EQ
[Video] Max Hunter's Cracking the code of successful teams | TEDxVUAmsterdam
[Article] The Importance of Giving Credit | Harvard Business Review
[Article] Why It's a Good Idea to Share the Spotlight | Psychology Today
